Debt Dumpers 2024

[piglet1979]

Just curious, what cruise line charges to use an adult area?

It is a Norwegian cruise. It is called Vibe Beach Club and it is for adults only and they only sell so many passes. This makes this area quieter and you are also not fitting to get a chair. They also have hot tubs in this area.

 

[slightly_obsessed]

I'm sometimes hard on myself- why are we not in a better spot when we have pretty good salaries, etc. We've DEF made mistakes (we ate out WAY too much for the majority of our time together and I always say we ate our future), but I'm 39, my husband is 43, and we will be ok. We have an E fund, we have a lot in retirement, and minimal debt (down to about 12k, which will be gone in 2024 one way or another). I have so many goals, but I keep telling myself one step at a time, one choice at a time. I can't undo the bad choices we made along the way, unfortunately, but I've def learned.

Oh yes. We made so many mistakes, especially with credit cards and student loans, and it's only in the last few years that I've been serious about taking down debt. It got to a point where it felt like my husband made too much money to be this poor after bills. We were able to pay off the last of the student loans and the car loan only because of an inheritance, otherwise we'd still be trudging along.

Just have to be kind to yourself and keep moving forward!

 

[huggybuff]

Weekly update! Not much going on this week financially since today's not payday

Week 6

2024 Financial Goals

1. Pay off my credit cards and car loan in 2 years by using the debt avalanche. I've already scheduled and accounted for all of my bills and credit card payments for the next pay period. A total of $380 will be going to my Lane Bryant card (minimum plus $350 extra) next Friday. I could pay it now if I wanted to but I'm working on keeping a decent cushion in my checking account in addition to my emergency fund.

2. Increase my monthly payments to my husband for household expenses by $800 a month beginning in May and open a joint checking account where we will each contribute monthly. We figured giving me until May to sock some extra cash into my checking would be a good idea since my personal loan is now paid off and that was sucking $1000 off the top of my paycheck once a month. Snoozed until May.

3. Set aside $285 per month from January-June to cover the cost of our hotel for our anniversary trip in July to Monterey. $285 more into my HYSA (2/6)

4. Begin paying for our 2025 spring break cruise to Mexico in March. Payments will be $400 a month from March-December. Also set aside $50 per month during that time period to cover our upgrade package. Snoozed until March.

5. Continue using the YNAB app and website to track my money daily. I'm still tracking my money the old fashioned way with a register but I really like the budgeting aspect of YNAB and am getting more and more used to it. Reconciliation didn't go so well this week. I ended up off by over $500. Not sure what that's about. (6/52)


2024 Personal Goals

1. Finish deep cleaning and organizing my kitchen. My husband is basically the Swedish Chef so he makes quite a mess when he cooks. I appreciate the fact that he does all of the cooking but it's a lot to keep on top of TBH. I need to do a better job and put in more effort. I will track this weekly. Welp, it was a poor effort on my part this week. Tomorrow is another day, as Scarlett O'Hara once said. Actually, we may have a few folks over for the game on Sunday so that gives me a built in deadline, which I like. (2/52)

2. Once I feel like my kitchen is back under control I'll transition to organizing my clothes that are in boxes in our bedroom. I will tackle this at least one of the days of my weekend. Snoozed.

3. Reorganize and deep clean my bathroom. I have too much on the countertop and need to make use of the cabinets in a more organized manner. Snoozed.

4. By July I'd like to be at the point I can begin to tackle my boxes that are still unpacked in the garage. I had a storage unit for years and now they're just sitting untouched since we moved into the house 3 years ago. Snoozed.

5. In August I'd like to make my stepson's room into a workout room. He's a senior in high school this year and he'll be starting college next fall. He's only staying over 1 or 2 nights a week at most at this point since he lives with his mom so I don't feel I'll be booting him out or anything. I am at my highest weight ever and I honestly don't even know what that is since I'm scared to get on the scale. I can have all of the DVDs and online workouts in the world but they do no good if you don't use them. I think having a space set aside will really help me out. Snoozed.

6. Get my passport at some point this year to be ready for the cruise in 2025. This probably won't happen for at least a few months.

7. I came up with a new goal. Get back to baking on a weekly basis. This will begin when my kitchen is 'done'. JK, I know a kitchen is never truly caught up on. Snoozed until I cross #1 off of my list.

I hope everyone has a great time this weekend watching the game if you're so inclined! Go Team Halftime Show!

 

[pblack]

I am also team halftime show.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

@WDW_fan_in_TX

 

[Bellex917]

@WDW_fan_in_TX

I started watching and listening to Dave about 2 years ago when I first got serious about our finances. I feel like I missed Dave in his prime LOL! He's not this energetic anymore haha!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I started watching and listening to Dave about 2 years ago when I first got serious about our finances. I feel like I missed Dave in his prime LOL! He's not this energetic anymore haha!!

So true. Then again, neither am I.
Ten years of middle age will do that do you.


I love when he talks about the cheetah going after the young gazelle and he refers to it as a college student. “Hey, I have a t-shirt for you!”

 

[Bellex917]

So true. Then again, neither am I.
Ten years of middle age will do that do you.


I love when he talks about the cheetah going after the young gazelle and he refers to it as a college student. “Hey, I have a t-shirt for you!”

Yes! That part made me laugh. I'm "only" 39 but I very clearly remember the offers of free tshirts and tote bags haha. Luckily that was never my issue- eating out has always been our problem! Getting that under control (many thanks to Dave- even though we didn't follow his steps) has helped tremendously and we should be debt free in 2024. I never followed his plan, but listen to them daily for motivation to keep going on our own journey.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We loosely follow DR. I love the principles, but I refuse to cut out vacations until we're out of debt. I'm not going to miss out of making memories with them while they're growing up.
I'm a huge fan of The Budget Mom and kind of combine both their methods into something that makes sense.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We loosely follow DR. I love the principles, but I refuse to cut out vacations until we're out of debt. I'm not going to miss out of making memories with them while they're growing up.
I'm a huge fan of The Budget Mom and kind of combine both their methods into something that makes sense.

We still vacationed too but made amazing progress between trips. I did cut way down on the frequency and waited until I in desperate need. .
I only followed DR for the structure of Baby Steps 1 & 2 and the gazelle intensity. I do believe a lot of it is psychological. Getting started is the hardest part. Once I paid off the first debt and moved on to #2, I was so motivated, nothing could stop me.
I know we would have paid our debt down faster if we stopped contributing to our retirement accounts like he recommends, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.

 

[Bellex917]

We still vacationed too but made amazing progress between trips. I did cut way down on the frequency and waited until I in desperate need. .
I only followed DR for the structure of Baby Steps 1 & 2 and the gazelle intensity. I do believe a lot of it is psychological. Getting started is the hardest part. Once I paid off the first debt and moved on to #2, I was so motivated, nothing could stop me.
I know we would have paid our debt down faster if we stopped contributing to our retirement accounts like he recommends, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.

I've been listening to Dave for 2 years and haven't stopped contributing to retirement, nor have I taken my savings down to 1k. We have 3 months saved and are now working to finish paying it all off, but we are doing it by interest rate. I LOVE Dave and I believe in his plan, and yet we are doing totally our own thing LOL! I'd have followed him more closely but my husband wasn't on board with those few things. We did take his savings down to 1% (as of today actually) to cross the finish line, but kept mine going. We said end of 2024 we are putting his back up no matter where we are, but we should be debt free and hopefully on the path to doubling our E fund.

 

[Nettlelondon]

Any financial plan, a bit like any diet, has to actually fit with the wider needs of the people involved. There is no point comitting to a diet that involves only eating in an 8 hour block and never after 6pm if you work a night shift - I know that is a bit extreme but you get my drift.

You can't pare your savings right down to almost nothing if that actually leaves you feeling so anxious in case anything happens that needs larger amounts of emergency cash that you can't think straight (and I don't think DR has increased his $1,000 in line with cost inflation ever anyway, though I may be wrong on that one).

Grabbing elements of different approaches that can help you get to the right overall position shows an understanding of your own mentality and is much more likely to produce good long term financial health. Again, a bit like dieting. We all know that yo-yo dieting is not a good long term position and neither is getting rid of debt without learning how to not get into it again.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Any financial plan, a bit like any diet, has to actually fit with the wider needs of the people involved. There is no point comitting to a diet that involves only eating in an 8 hour block and never after 6pm if you work a night shift - I know that is a bit extreme but you get my drift.

You can't pare your savings right down to almost nothing if that actually leaves you feeling so anxious in case anything happens that needs larger amounts of emergency cash that you can't think straight (and I don't think DR has increased his $1,000 in line with cost inflation ever anyway, though I may be wrong on that one).

Grabbing elements of different approaches that can help you get to the right overall position shows an understanding of your own mentality and is much more likely to produce good long term financial health. Again, a bit like dieting. We all know that yo-yo dieting is not a good long term position and neither is getting rid of debt without learning how to not get into it again.

So true. The $1000 EF is meant to be a starter EF to get some basic “emergencies” covered such as a replacement washer, car tire, brakes or something like that. It won’t cover larger problems such as job loss but the point of it is to cover the more likely/common setbacks and get the person on their way to debt reduction while he/she is still fired up, to start seeing results in our instant gratification world.
If it’s going to take someone 10 months to save up a beefy EF that will cover a wider range of life’s problems, more people might give up by that point without ever having paid off anything.

Many Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency so at least $1000 is a start. Baby Step 3, after debt elimination, is to fully fund at least 6 months of expenses.

All of this can vary with one’s comfort level, household income, and how much debt there is which would determine how long it would take to pay off.

A couple making $200k per year with $5k of debt will not be relying on that mini EF for very long, whereas a single person making $45k per year with $30k of debt will need to rely on their EF for many years and may choose to pause debt reduction after some time to beef up the EF.

For some people, it will be frustrating just trying to save up $1000, and might get discouraged to the point of giving up for even paying anything toward debt.


We’re not all in the same boat, just on the same ocean.

 

[barkley]

Any financial plan, a bit like any diet, has to actually fit with the wider needs of the people involved. There is no point comitting to a diet that involves only eating in an 8 hour block and never after 6pm if you work a night shift - I know that is a bit extreme but you get my drift.

You can't pare your savings right down to almost nothing if that actually leaves you feeling so anxious in case anything happens that needs larger amounts of emergency cash that you can't think straight (and I don't think DR has increased his $1,000 in line with cost inflation ever anyway, though I may be wrong on that one).

Grabbing elements of different approaches that can help you get to the right overall position shows an understanding of your own mentality and is much more likely to produce good long term financial health. Again, a bit like dieting. We all know that yo-yo dieting is not a good long term position and neither is getting rid of debt without learning how to not get into it again.

So true. The $1000 EF is meant to be a starter EF to get some basic “emergencies” covered such as a replacement washer, car tire, brakes or something like that. It won’t cover larger problems such as job loss but the point of it is to cover the more likely/common setbacks and get the person on their way to debt reduction while he/she is still fired up, to start seeing results in our instant gratification world.
If it’s going to take someone 10 months to save up a beefy EF that will cover a wider range of life’s problems, more people might give up by that point without ever having paid off anything.

Many Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency so at least $1000 is a start. Baby Step 3, after debt elimination, is to fully fund at least 6 months of expenses.

All of this can vary with one’s comfort level, household income, and how much debt there is which would determine how long it would take to pay off.

A couple making $200k per year with $5k of debt will not be relying on that mini EF for very long, whereas a single person making $45k per year with $30k of debt will need to rely on their EF for many years and may choose to pause debt reduction after some time to beef up the EF.

For some people, it will be frustrating just trying to save up $1000, and might get discouraged to the point of giving up for even paying anything toward debt.


We’re not all in the same boat, just on the same ocean.

excellent points.

my own opionion is that ramsey's emergency fund should be EITHER $1000 OR one's auto/renters or homeowner's insurance deductable whichever is HIGHER. in my experience having had to deal with a significant homeowner's claim-contractors want their money and don't offer installment plans, with covered car repairs-similar situation with mechanics and body shops. when we were ordered out of our home by the fire department in the middle of the night no insurance agent was sitting in the lobby of the local hotel to guarantee the bill (and it took a handfull of days to get the claim established let alone to see any funds which they reduced by the amount of the deductible).

 

[disney-inspired]

Currently at WDW and sticking to my allotted food budget .

Came back from WDW and was $57 under budget and didn't feel like I was restricting myself either.

 

[barkley]

Came back from WDW and was $57 under budget and didn't feel like I was restricting myself either.

good for you-and all it likely took was declining one extra mickey bar seriously, that's great

 

[disney-inspired]

good for you-and all it likely took was declining one extra mickey bar seriously, that's great

I even splurged with a couple of last minute table service meals, too!

 

[barkley]

I even splurged with a couple of last minute table service meals, too!

but did you tip in the extraordinarily high manner being supported on the community board?

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Weekly update (Feb. 11)
Made the minimum payment on my one credit card due this past week.

But the bigger/biggest news is we got our taxes filed. We have enough to completely pay off our loan shark loan and have a little left over for us to spend together (we want some new cookware because we've had the same set since we got married in 2005 and we also want to make a down payment on our next Disney trip for December of this year or spring 2025). We would have enough to do all of that.

However, the wife doesn't want to fully pay off the loan. She wants to pay $500 on it (to leave about $300 left to pay) then take the extra, buy what was discussed in the last paragraph then put whatever extra is leftover into a savings account in case something happens (washing machine goes out, need new tires, other emergencies). I'm still trying to talk her into paying the loan completely off and then that would give us approximately $170 every 2 weeks to bank into savings, but I may not win that one. But I can also see her point because it would start the savings account immediately.

We did well with eating out this past week as we cooked at home every night and took lunches every day. Only ate out on Friday night and Sunday after church. Then we ordered pizza on Sunday night (for the Super Bowl). However, we were both able to eat dinner Sunday and lunch today, so got 4 meals out of $16. Win there.

Sold a few items from around the house to try and declutter. Sold 2 video games on eBay that I hadn't played in more than a year. Also sold some baseball cards. So all that came in handy this week to try and be able to survive until our next payday (rent ate up our last check). I also gathered some books to take to Half Price Books and sell. I also want to take some DVDs that we haven't watched in 2-3 years. But wife wants to keep them for sentimental value.

So some positives this week. Now we just have to buckle down and stay focused and try and get an emergency fund started. That's the next goal.

 

[Wxcaps]

Weekly update (Feb. 11)
Made the minimum payment on my one credit card due this past week.

But the bigger/biggest news is we got our taxes filed. We have enough to completely pay off our loan shark loan and have a little left over for us to spend together (we want some new cookware because we've had the same set since we got married in 2005 and we also want to make a down payment on our next Disney trip for December of this year or spring 2025). We would have enough to do all of that.

However, the wife doesn't want to fully pay off the loan. She wants to pay $500 on it (to leave about $300 left to pay) then take the extra, buy what was discussed in the last paragraph then put whatever extra is leftover into a savings account in case something happens (washing machine goes out, need new tires, other emergencies). I'm still trying to talk her into paying the loan completely off and then that would give us approximately $170 every 2 weeks to bank into savings, but I may not win that one. But I can also see her point because it would start the savings account immediately.

We did well with eating out this past week as we cooked at home every night and took lunches every day. Only ate out on Friday night and Sunday after church. Then we ordered pizza on Sunday night (for the Super Bowl). However, we were both able to eat dinner Sunday and lunch today, so got 4 meals out of $16. Win there.

Sold a few items from around the house to try and declutter. Sold 2 video games on eBay that I hadn't played in more than a year. Also sold some baseball cards. So all that came in handy this week to try and be able to survive until our next payday (rent ate up our last check). I also gathered some books to take to Half Price Books and sell. I also want to take some DVDs that we haven't watched in 2-3 years. But wife wants to keep them for sentimental value.

So some positives this week. Now we just have to buckle down and stay focused and try and get an emergency fund started. That's the next goal.

Pay off the loan. Then use those savings from making payments to create the savings account. The cookware can wait.